Not every Lincoln City signing gets the chance to make an impact – and some barely get a look-in at all.
Over the years, the club has brought in players with promising CVs, exciting reputations, or even eye-catching pre-season performances, only for them to vanish from view, with some fans feeling they never got a real opportunity to prove themselves. Whether through bad timing, managerial changes, injury setbacks or sheer weight of competition, several names have come and gone, before supporters had the chance to form a proper opinion, but not before many did.
This article looks at the players who some fans felt were never truly given a chance at Sincil Bank. These aren’t youth prospects or short-term cover signings – they’re footballers brought in with first-team aspirations who made fewer than a handful of starts, or sometimes none at all. In some cases, they went on to forge decent careers elsewhere, making their brief Lincoln spells all the more puzzling.
Look at Sam Clucas and JJ McKiernan. They’re both players I really liked, signings I thought would be groundbreaking. Neither have really proven anything at the Bank, one leaving permanently, the other on loan. However, as we believe they’d have been good for us, we can’t argue that they have been successful elsewhere, after us. Time will tell, but luckily, we have history to tell us what other players have done.
I’m looking at EFL-era players only, so not dipping into the National League, nor the years prior under Sutton, Jacko, Schofield or Keith Alexander. Also, the minutes are purely league minutes, rather than league and cup.
The question I am posing is this: how did they get on after Sincil Bank?
Billy Knott – 826 minutes
I was one who felt Billy needed more time. He’s a classic example of a player the fans see something in, but the club see much more. I suppose it’s like the iceberg that sank the Titanic – as fans, we only see what is above water, but with some players, there is a lot lurking down in the depths.
In his 826 minutes, he scored once, assisted once and was sent off once. However, of those minutes, only once did he start as a centre forward, that fateful game against Notts County. Sadly, history has proven this was the right decision, as he’s only reached the same number of minutes for Concord Rangers and Chelmsford since leaving us.
James Wilson – 1406 minutes
When I set out to write these articles, I do so with the intention of telling the story they tell me, not the narrative I see fit. When it comes to James Wilson, there is definitely a suggestion that we let one get away. His 1406 minutes were spread across just 19 matches.
Since leaving us, he won Player of the Year for Ipswich Town, helped Plymouth get promoted into the Championship and had two solid seasons with Bristol Rovers. In total, he’s appeared 195 times in League One since leaving us, adding to his 170 appearances in the Championship and League One before he signed for us.
Yeah, here is one who perhaps should have been given more of a chance.
Alex Bradley – 0 minutes
You remember Bradley, right? No? Came from West Brom, had a decent season on loan at Harrogate, helping them to the Football League and got 96 minutes against Liverpool in the League Cup. Sadly, he didn’t get a single league minute, and perhaps the fact that we had Brennan Johnson, Jorge Grant and the like meant he wasn’t mentioned as one who never got a chance too loudly.
After City, Bradley drifted. Two seasons with Yeovil in the National League followed, then stints with Tamworth, Walsall Wood and Stourbridge. Right decision.